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Race Recap: Monaco Grand Prix makes the kettle boil [spoilers]

It's not hard to believe that 80 percent of the action at the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix happened didn't have to do with straight-up racing. Mercedes AMG Petronas wasn't expected to maintain its obscene advantage over the field with Monaco being a short track that rewards corner speed over top speed, but they still ruled two of the three Free Practice sessions.
Off the track, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said he thought it should be easier to beat his teammate and that he was hungrier than his teammate. Then came qualifying and Mirabeau, when Nico Rosberg had set the pole lap in the dying moments of Q3, and as the final few drivers tried to best it on their last chance - including Hamilton, who said he was on the lap that would have got him pole position - Rosberg overcooked it into Mirabeau and brought out a local yellow, killing everyone's chance to better his time. Although the sun was shining in Monaco, the paddock got cold as ice; Rosberg and Hamilton didn't look at one another, speak to one another or touch one another. Rosberg said, "It was an honest mistake." After the race, a disbelieving Hamilton said to the press, "I wish you could have seen the data."
They still lined up first on the grid, though, Rosberg ahead of Hamilton, followed by Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel for Infiniti Red Bull Racing, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen for Ferrari, Jean-Eric Vergne in the first Toro Rosso and Daniel Kvyat in the second in ninth, split by McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen in eighth, and Sergio Perez in the Force India in tenth.

Why Italians are no longer buying supercars

Italy is the wound that continues to drain blood from the body financial of Italian supercar and sports car makers. The wound was opened by the country's various financial police who decided to get serious about superyacht-owning and supercar-driving tax cheats a few years ago, by noting their registrations and checking their incomes. When it was found that a rather high percentage of exotic toy owners had claimed a rather low annual income - certain business owners were found to be declaring less income than their employees - the owners began dumping their cars and prospective buyers declined to buy.
Car and Driver has a piece on how the initiative is hitting the home market the hardest. Lamborghini sold 1,302 cars worldwide in 2010, 1,602 cars in 2011 and 2,083 cars in 2012 - an excellent surge in just two years. In Italy, however, it's all about the ebb: in 2010, the year that Italian police began scouring harbors, Lamborghini sold 96 cars in Italy, the next year it sold 72, last year it sold just 60. The declines for Maserati and Ferrari are even more pronounced.
Head over to CD for the full story and the numbers. What might be most incredible isn't the cause and effect, but where the blame is being placed. A year ago the chairman of Italy's Federauto accused the government of "terrorizing potential clients," this year Luca di Montezemolo says what's happening has created "a hostile environment for ­luxury goods." Life at the top, it ain't easy.

Drive goes sideways, shreds tires in a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta

Ferrari has built a monster with its F12 Berlinetta, a V12-powered grand tourer that has the looks of a supermodel and the firepower of a small country. And while it's been on the scene for a minute, Drive's Chris Harris wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to hoon a 740-horsepower prancing horse around the scenic Anglesey Circuit in Wales.
In fact, not only was Ferrari nice enough to loan Harris the F12, but it threw in an extra four sets of tires, just for him to destroy while taking moving pictures. The resulting video is indeed one to watch, not just because of the ample amounts of slow-motion drifting, but because Harris, as always, does a great job of making the viewer feel like they're actually along for the ride. Take a look below for the latest video from Drive.